Born: March 16, 1952

I have two main groups now: The Philip Baumgarten Trio and Pot, Baumgarten & Friends. Pot, Baumgarten & Friends is a band that plays a crossover of folk, jazz, Latin, pop and classical music. We've just recorded a second CD with this group that will be released in June 2012. I don't think there's another group in the world that sounds like us, not only because of the strange cross over that grew out of these musicians with theit diverse backgrounds, but also because of the instrumemts we use: vibraphone, cello, diatonic accordion, piano and double bass in one bsand. The Philip Baumgarten Trio is the fulfillment of a wish I've had for quite some time now: playing jazz the way I like best with fantastic musicians I like to play the most...
read more

I have two main groups now: The Philip Baumgarten Trio and Pot, Baumgarten & Friends. Pot, Baumgarten & Friends is a band that plays a crossover of folk, jazz, Latin, pop and classical music. We've just recorded a second CD with this group that will be released in June 2012. I don't think there's another group in the world that sounds like us, not only because of the strange cross over that grew out of these musicians with theit diverse backgrounds, but also because of the instrumemts we use: vibraphone, cello, diatonic accordion, piano and double bass in one bsand. The Philip Baumgarten Trio is the fulfillment of a wish I've had for quite some time now: playing jazz the way I like best with fantastic musicians I like to play the most. Because I write most of the music, but not all music, Leonieke Vermeer has contributed a few beautiful tunes, but the concept of this band is largely mine. It's such a pleasure to be able to play jazz like I always wanted to! For a number of years I've been planning to record a jazz CD with my compositions, but I hadn't worked out the concept yet. It took some years before I concluded that I didn't have to compose in one style and could write what I like best. Often the simplest solutions are the best! All influences that I underwent in my life are represented in my compositions. I've heard a lot of diverse music in my life. For instance, as a child I lived in countries like the USA, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ghana and Rome. Now that I've written a repertoire for this trio, it has become clear (also to me) that I like catchy melodies and a rather free way of soloing, never loosing track of the harmonies at the same time.